Meb Out Of Sunday's Houston Half Marathon

Meb Keflezighi has had the flu.

Meb Keflezighi has withdrawn from Sunday's Houston Half Marathon because of a cold.

"As a result of a cold & flu that I had until earlier this week, I will not run the Houston Half Marathon. Time to focus on Boston," Keflezighi wrote on Twitter.

The race was to have been Keflezighi's first since he placed fourth in the Olympic Marathon on August 12. Keflezighi's next race after the Olympics was to be the New York City Marathon on November 4. When that race was canceled, Keflezighi chose not to find a replacement fall marathon.

Earlier this week, Boston Marathon organizers announced that Keflezighi would be among a strong contingent at this year's race, scheduled for April 15. It will be interesting to see if Keflezighi's Houston withdrawal means he'll run a pre-Boston tune-up race elsewhere, such as the March 9 Gate River Run 15-K in Florida, which he has won several times, or the NYC Half on March 17.